Category Archives: Numerical modelling

Time scales of atmospheric circulation response to CO2 forcing

Posted on 17 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Paulo Ceppi An important question in current climate change research is, how will atmospheric circulation change as the climate warms? When simulating future climate scenarios, models commonly predict a shift of the midlatitude circulation to higher latitudes in both … Continue reading →

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What’s in a number?

Posted on 10 July, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Nancy Nichols Should you care about the numerical accuracy of your computer? After all, most machines now retain about 16 digits of accuracy, but usually only about 3-4 figures of accuracy are needed for most applications;  so what’s the … Continue reading →

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Soil Moisture retrieval from satellite SAR imagery

Posted on 19 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Keith Morrison Soil moisture retrieval from satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery uses the knowledge that the signal reflected from a soil is related to its dielectric properties. For a given soil type, variations in dielectric are controlled solely … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, earth observation, Hydrology, Measurements and instrumentation, Numerical modelling, Remote sensing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Can observations of the ocean help predict the weather?

Posted on 12 June, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Amos Lawless It has long been recognized that there are strong interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean. For example, the sea surface temperature affects what happens in the lower boundary of the atmosphere, while heat, momentum and moisture … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, Numerical modelling, Oceans, Weather forecasting | Tagged | Leave a comment

Why has there been a rapid increase in heat-related extremes in Western Europe since the mid-1990s?

Posted on 22 May, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Buwen Dong In the last few decades, Europe has warmed not only faster than the global average, but also faster than expected from anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases (van Oldenborgh et al., 2009). With the warming, Europe experienced record-breaking heat … Continue reading →

Posted in Aerosols, Atmospheric chemistry, Climate, Climate change, Climate modelling, Environmental hazards, Numerical modelling | Leave a comment

The physics behind a physics scheme

Posted on 15 May, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Alan Grant When I joined the Met Office (or, as it was then, The Meteorological Office), I was posted to the boundary layer group. I spent a number of years investigating the atmospheric boundary layer, using data from aircraft … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundary layer, Environmental physics, Numerical modelling, Oceans, Waves | Leave a comment

Changing wet and dry seasons

Posted on 8 May, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Richard Allan The fickle nature of weather patterns is ultimately responsible for the where and when of tropical rainfall extremes which wreak damage on agriculture, infrastructure and people. Tropical cyclones, such as Enawo which battered Madagascar in March, can … Continue reading →

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Water vapour transport by tropical cyclones over East Asia

Posted on 24 April, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Liang Guo When talking about tropical cyclones (TCs), people tend to think about gusty winds and heavy rain. These weather phenomena impress us due to the immense impacts on our surroundings. However, these weather phenomena are short-lived. Most TCs … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate modelling, Monsoons, Numerical modelling, Tropical cyclones | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Nice weather, atmospheric blocking and forecasts

Posted on 11 April, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Oscar Martinez-Alvarado With the beginning of spring (either the ‘meteorological’ spring on 1 March or the ‘astronomical’ spring on 20 March, as the Met Office explains here), the UK and indeed the whole Northern Hemisphere start experiencing warmer weather. The … Continue reading →

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Observation uncertainty in data assimilation

Posted on 20 March, 2017 by Stephen Burt

By Sarah Dance Approximately 4 million properties in the UK are at risk from surface-water flooding which occurs when heavy rainfall overwhelms the drainage capacity of the local area. Several national weather centres have been developing new numerical forecasting systems … Continue reading →

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